Miami, Florida - Martín Ojeda needed 51 minutes. Orlando City SC needed a miracle. Saturday night at Nu Stadium, they got both.
Ojeda delivered one of the most remarkable individual performances in Florida Derby history, scoring three goals to erase a three-goal deficit as Orlando City stunned Inter Miami CF 4-3 in Miami. Tyrese Spicer sealed the comeback in the 93rd minute, converting a Braian Ojeda through ball with a low finish into the bottom right corner to send the visitors back to Orlando with three points and a result that will echo through this rivalry for years.
Inter Miami made it look like a coronation in the opening 33 minutes. Ian Fray broke the deadlock in the 4th minute, heading Telasco Segovia's corner delivery into the top right corner from the centre of the box. Segovia doubled the advantage in the 25th, tucking a right-footed shot from close range into the centre of the goal after Lionel Messi released him on a fast break. Then Messi himself joined the party — curling a precise left-footed effort from outside the box into the bottom left corner in the 33rd minute after a quick combination with Luis Suárez. Three goals before the midpoint of the first half. Nu Stadium was rocking.
What happened next was extraordinary.
Six minutes before halftime, Justin Ellis with a one touch played Ojeda in on a fast break and the Orlando forward drilled a left-footed shot from outside the box into the bottom left corner. It was one goal. But it meant something far larger than the scoreline suggested. On the Orlando bench, the calculation changed. Inter Miami's changed too. The home side had controlled 64 percent of possession and peppered the Orlando goal — Maxime Crépeau made crucial first-half saves against Suárez and Rodrigo De Paul, twice denying shots destined for the top right corner — but the clinical edge that had defined the first 33 minutes was gone.
Orlando's interim bench moved decisively at halftime. Tyrese Spicer and Eduard Atuesta came on for Tiago and Luis Otávio, and the effect was immediate. The Lions emerged with a different energy — compact, direct, and dangerous in transition. Where the first half had seen them pinned back and reactive, the second was played almost entirely on their terms.
The 68th minute was the turning point. Adrián Marín slipped a perfectly weighted pass through the Inter Miami defensive line to Ojeda, who arrived in stride at the centre of the box and slotted low into the bottom right corner. Three-two. Nu Stadium, which had been celebratory, fell quiet. The tide had shifted beyond denial.
The penalty came in the 77th minute. Maximiliano Falcón fouled Iago Teodoro inside the area, and Ojeda stepped to the spot with the composure of a man who knew this was his night. He drove the ball to the top left corner. Hat-trick. Three-three. Lionel Messi was booked in the same minute arguing with the referee — a snapshot of the chaos Inter Miami's once-structured backline had descended into.
The statistics tell a story of two completely different matches or two halves. Inter Miami held 64 percent possession, launched 26 shot attempts and recorded 18 fouls. Orlando managed 13 attempts and committed just five. Crépeau was the busier goalkeeper, finishing with seven saves. Dayne St. Clair made five. None of it mattered by the final whistle.
The winner arrived in the 93rd minute. Braian Ojeda found Spicer in behind the Inter Miami defence on a fast break, and the substitute finished low and through the keepers legs. Spicer was immediately swarmed by teammates. Robin Jansson, booked as early as the 18th minute, marshalled the backline through the chaotic final minutes as Orlando held on for a result that defies easy explanation.
Inter Miami remain in the Eastern Conference at 5-2-4, 19 points — but have now won just once in their last five MLS contests. The clinical precision that defined their early-season form has given way to something more inconsistent, more vulnerable. A team with Messi, Paul and Suárez should not be surrendering three-goal leads at home in their own building.
For Orlando City, the table still requires honest accounting. The Lions are 3-7-1 with 10 points, 25th in the overall standings and 13th in the Eastern Conference. Back-to-back wins — this derby stunner following a U.S. Open Cup victory over New England on April 29 — represent momentum, but not yet a position rescued. They travel to face CF Montréal on May 9 at 4:30 p.m. Montréal sit at 3-7-0 with nine points, one below Orlando in the table — a six-point match in every meaningful sense.
Ojeda gave them a night nobody in Miami will forget. Now comes Montréal. Results, not memories, are what the table rewards.